Year 5 and 6 Word List organised from the 2014 National Curriculum Appendix 1
Some words will appear more than once, as they belong to more than one family or spelling pattern.
Words in bold are included in the statutory NC list. Others may be taught alongside these.
a-e
accommodate
appreciate
average
exaggerate
immediate / ly
create
demonstrate
estimate
excavate
illustrate
imitate
investigate
hurricane
manage
separate
terminate
ventilate
i-e
criticise
definite
sacrifice
decide
infinite
umpire
ie
achieve
mischievous
ei
foreign
leisure
deceive
height
receipt
seize
double consonants
accommodate
appreciate
attached
committee
correspond
embarrass
exaggerate
harass
interrupt
marvellous
occupy
opportunity
programme
profession
recommend
suggest
appear
disappeared
followed
hurricane
immense
parallel
succeed
success
tomorrow
swallow
Double vowels
committee
guarantee
career
engineer
exceed
succeed
woollen
zoology
e-e
interfere
sincere / ly
persevere
scheme
severe
sphere
-nce
conscience
convenience
existence
hindrance
nuisance
-tion
competition
explanation
pronunciation
nation
station
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-ent
ancient
apparent
environment
excellent
government
parliament
relevant
frequent / ly
instrument
lenient
-ous
conscious
curious / curiosity
disastrous
marvellous
mischievous
delicious
infectious
ridiculous
tremendous
suspicious
‘hidden’ letters
environment
foreign
rhyme
rhythm
yacht
knight
knuckle
knead
knowledge
wrap
rerecognise
recommend
relevant
restaurant
receive
receipt
recent
refuse
request
revise
rewind
-ar/ary
dictionary
familiar
necessary
secretary
calendar
February
library
momentary
similar
similarly
er/ery
cemetery
shoulder
soldier
whether
-or
category
equator
inferior
exterior
minor
superior
Y: short ‘i’ phoneme
physical
rhythm
Symbol
System
mystery
mysterious
sympathy
syllable
syrup
-ure / ury
leisure
signature
temperature
endure
manufacture
moisture
century
jury
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syllables
a/ccom/mo/date
a/ppa/rent
ca/te/go/ry
ce/me/ter/y
co/mmi/ttee
con/tro/ver/sy
co/rres/pond
de/fi/nite
des/per/ate
de/vel/op
em/ba/rass
ex/a/gger/ate
go/vern/ment
i/den/ti/ty
in/di/vid/u/al
in/ter/rupt
mar/ve/llous
ne/ce/ssa/ry
o/ppor/tu/ni/ty
pri/vi/lege
pro/nun/ci/a/tion
re/le/vant
se/cre/ta/ry
tem/per/a/ture
ve/ge/ta/ble
ough
thorough
through
bought
brought
cough
enough
rough
eigh
neighbour
eight
eighth
weigh
weight
root and affix
conscious
conscience
critic
criticise
curious
curiosity
develop
development
equip
equipped
equipment
special
especially
Excel
excellent
govern
government
immediate
immediately
individual
individually
interfere
interference
interrupt
interruption
light
lightning
marvel
marvellous
mischief
mischievous
muscle
muscular
occupy
occupation
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occupied
occur
occurred
persuade
persuasion
prejudice
prejudicial
privilege
privileged
recognise
recognition
rhyme
rhythm
rhythmical
sacrifice
sacrificial
sincere
sincerely
sincerity
twelve
twelfth
variety
various
variant
variation
vegetable
vegetation
vehicle
vehicular
ui
bruise
cruise
aw
awkward
bawl
crawl
hawk
squawk
ua-e
language
persuade
ci/sci/ti = ‘sh’
ancient
appreciate
competition
conscience
conscious
especially
sufficient
ammunition
beneficial
crucial
determination
financial
partial
social
special
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Some words on the Year 5 and 6 Word List have unusual spellings which are not found in other
words on the list, such as ‘queue’. It is better to teach these alongside other words which have a
similar phoneme or spelling pattern, even though these words are not included in the list. If there
is simply no other word like it, then it goes into the ‘Unique Spelling Chest’, which you can create
in your classroom.
There are many different strategies to help children learn to spell words. Sometimes the
morphology of the word will help. That is, breaking the word up into its constituent parts and
looking carefully at the meaning of each part, e.g. the root, prefix or suffix. How does the addition
of the affix change the meaning of the word?
In other words, simply pronouncing each separate syllable in an obvious and unnatural way, can
help – even if that is not how the whole word should be pronounced, e.g. Wed/nes/day.
Mnemonics can help too, such as funny rhymes or sayings which help the child to remember the
letters. The longer the words become, the less realistic this approach can be.
Children’s visual memory will be enhanced by the visual display of plenty of words around their
environment too, especially those high frequency words which help children to become fluent,
confident writers.
Sometimes analogy works well. Dissect words, like a scientist. See how they are made up. Count
their phonemes, or syllables. Look for affixes. Segment and blend the word if you can.
Above all, encourage children to be fascinated with words, rather than fearful of them. Play Word
Detectives to help children become more analytical about how words are put together. Play plenty
of word games, and make your spelling lessons as engaging and multi-sensory as possible.
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